As I viewed the material relating to the 21st century in the classroom and where we are headed, I found myself thinking back to how it was when I was a student. I now teach 6th grade. When I was in 6th grade, the year was 1993-1994. The most advanced thing we did on the computer was play Oregon Trail. We had primitive word processors that did not offer spell check, and you were required to tear off perforations before turning in a print-out. We had no e-mail or internet. Our computer screens were small, and even getting on them was a major task. There was one computer lab in the entire school. When I went home, the 16-bit Super Nintendo was my high-tech source of entertainment.
Nowadays, I am finding that students often times know just as much if not more about technology than teachers do. They are better informed, and have a variety of technological inovations to help them. Kids go home to video games with internet access connecting them to a world of entertainment.
One thing remains the same: Technology can fail, break down, or malfunction. It is at times lke this that teachers must remind themselves that they are not IT professionals, and still have many traditional methods to fall back on.
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